DE 102005030726 A1 discloses an air suspension system for vehicles, said air suspension system comprising the necessary components of current air suspension systems. Said air suspension system comprises a compressor, an air dryer, a pressure storage device and also various valves and compressed air lines. Furthermore, the air suspension system comprises pressure sensors and is controlled by way of a control device.
The main components of an air supply for air suspension systems in accordance with the prior art and comprising air compressors, valves and a control device are usually housed separately in the vehicle decoupled from one another as far as vibration technology is concerned. The components are connected by way of dedicated pneumatic and electrical lines that save little space, which leads to a high application expenditure and to high costs.
When supplying the air to air suspension systems for motor vehicles, 1 or 2 stage compressor concepts having linear pistons are usually used as compressors. Such compressors are mostly driven by way of an electric motor and comprise a crankcase embodied from a synthetic material or die-cast aluminum, a cylinder having a cylinder head embodied from a die-cast aluminum and a dryer unit embodied from synthetic material. In addition, one or multiple valves, for example inlet valves or outlet valves, are attached to the cylinder head. The motor control of the electric motor is generally controlled by way of mechanical relays and is not installed on the compressor, which in turn leads to additional lines.
Furthermore, combined air supply units for air suspension systems are known, said combined air supply units are however mostly used in the case of simple rear-axle level regulating systems. The valves are installed together with the control device on a compressor. Even in the case of this embodiment, it is necessary for the components to be connected in an inconvenient manner by way of further lines and this niche application likewise does not consequently facilitate an optimal production in terms of cost.
The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.